Alar Karis, the sole candidate in Estonia's presidential election, was elected Estonian president on Tuesday in the second round of voting held in the country's 101-member Parliament (Riigikogu) during a continued extraordinary session, APA reports citing Xinhua.
Karis received 72 votes, passing the 68 votes needed to get elected.
Eighty Riigikogu members voted, 72 in favor of Karis with eight leaving their ballots blanks. The vote took place as a secret ballot.
After the result was announced Karis thanked both those who voted for him and those who did not.
"As President, I will be a good partner in the Riigikogu for all factions as well as political forces," he said.
Karis, 63, is a former auditor general, former rector of the University of Tartu and of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, and only publicly agreed to run as president less than two weeks ago.
He will be Estonia's sixth president.
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